Demonstration by employees in front of the Bridgestone plant in Bethune, September 17, 2020. -

AFP

From one end of the political spectrum to the other, the mobilization intensified Thursday to put pressure on Bridgestone but also the government and try to save the Béthune (Pas-de-Calais) tire plant doomed by the Japanese manufacturer to close by 2021.

Ministers Elisabeth Borne (Labor) and Agnès Pannier-Runacher (Industry) will travel to Béthune (Pas-de-Calais) on Monday 21 for a meeting with elected officials and unions devoted to the plant, announced Thursday to AFP the entourage of Mme Pannier-Runacher.

Battle on the horizon

This meeting will take place Monday afternoon, it was specified.

Xavier Bertrand will attend the meeting, told AFP the entourage of the president of the Hauts-de-France regional council.

Bridgestone announced on Wednesday that it wanted to close its Bethune plant, which employs 863 people.

After the shocking announcement of the closure of the factory (863 employees), which fell like an ax Wednesday morning, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire assured that the government would "fight" to try to "develop a another activity with wider tires than those currently produced on the site ”.

#Bridgestone has taken an appalling decision with an appalling method that will have appalling consequences.

We will be following this file very closely with @AgnesRunacher and @xavierbertrand to find a coherent and acceptable solution.

#LaMatinale pic.twitter.com/q7nEsEaQJG

- Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) September 17, 2020

"And, if ever we do not arrive at this solution, (we will fight to) find solutions for the reindustrialisation of the site so that there is, for each worker, a coherent and acceptable solution", added the minister, lambasting an "appalling" decision by Bridgestone.

"Structural market problems"

The factory produces small caliber tires for cars.

Bridgestone justified its decision to close it by "structural market problems", production overcapacity in Europe and competition from low-cost Asian brands.

The Japanese group, which claims the world's leading position in the tire market, describes this factory as "the least efficient" among ten of its sites in Europe, but the unions denounce a chronic lack of investment for years.

Economy

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Bridgestone: Does the State really have the means to act on the closure?

  • Economy

  • Employment

  • Dismissal

  • Job

  • Closing

  • Factory